The present invention relates to back and head sheets for draping over the front of seat backs, and more particularly for use as a cover for the seat back of mass transportation vehicles, such as railroad cars, buses and airplanes.
It is common practice to attach to the top of the back of the seat of a mass transportation vehicle a sanitary head sheet draped over the front of the seat back and forming a disposable clean and sanitary surface in engagement with the back of the head of a passenger sitting in the seat. Such head sheets are sometimes made of linen or fabric, are removed and laundered after each use, and re-used after being laundered and sanitized. More often, however, the head sheets are made of relatively inexpensive linen or fabric-like paper material, and they are removed by the person in charge of cleaning the vehicle after each use, or at least they are presumed to be changed after each use.
A problem involved with disposable back and head sheets for mass transportation vehicles is that a passenger does not have any assurance that the back and head sheet attached to the seat back which he occupies is a clean, unused back and head sheet. Another inconvenience is that the personnel in charge of cleaning the vehicle after each trip, or at the end of the day, do not know which seats have been occupied and which back and heat sheets must be removed and replaced by clean sheets. This leads to a temptation not to change the sheets or, in the alternative, to remove all the sheets, the clean ones as well as the used ones, and replace them by fresh head and back sheets.
The present invention, by providing more particularly throw-away disposable back and head sheets with use detection means, supplies a use indicator permitting a passenger in a mass transportation vehicle to ascertain the prior use or non-use of the head and back sheet draped over the back of the seat which he intends to occupy. In addition, the present invention provides an indicator of use and non-use of the back sheets supplying information to the cleaning personnel of a mass transportation vehicle relative to the seats which have been occupied and which require changing of the head and back sheets.